Introduction: Cannabis is the illicit drug mostly widely consumed by adolescents in Spain. The understanding of consumption motives is an important factor for intervention. In Spain, there are no available instruments for their evaluation, hence, the goal of this paper is to study the psychometric properties of the Marihuana Motives Measure (MMM) in a sample of adolescent consumers. Material and Method: Firstly, translation and back-translation was performed. A total of 228 adolescent consumers of cannabis were evaluated. Factorial analysis was conducted, and the reliability of the total scores and of each scale of the questionnaire was studied through Cronbach's alpha. Test-retest reliability was analyzed through interclass correlations. Validity evidence of the MMM was examined through correlations between current cannabis use, subjective consumption effects measured with the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI), and personality measured with the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI). Results: High reliability was observed in total score of the MMM (Cronbach = .86), and high and moderate reliability for each of the five factors obtained in the factorial analysis of the MMM, Social = .82, Enhancement = .72, Coping = .83, Expansion = .74, and Conformity = .64. Significant correlations were also observed between cannabis consumption motives and subjective effects, and between consumption motives and personality. Conclusion: The Spanish version of the MMM shows a similar factorial structure as the one obtained by the original author, and its measures are reliable and valid for the study of cannabis consumption motives in adolescent consumer population

Most countries have signed the international treaties banning the production, distribution, and possession of cannabis. Several countries have nevertheless decriminalized the use of these drugs, and even implemented some forms of attenuated or "de facto" legalization, the best-known case being found in the Netherlands since 1976. These trends nonetheless remained marginal to the international prohibitive system, which was headed by the U.S. since its inception. Surprisingly, in the last decade, some American countries have implemented major processes decriminal¬izing the use and legalizing the production and sale of marijuana and its derivatives. These legal changes were initially restricted to therapeutic and palliative uses, but recently they have involved free or ôrecreationalö use as well. In this paper, we briefly review the legalization processes that are taking place in Uruguay, Canada, and the United States, as well as the main factors that may have facilitated them. Then we review the main aspects of the legalization processes as well as the initial perceptible effects of these changes on consumption levels and patterns, on the public perception of risks, and on the transformation of cannabis products, and their forms of administration. We also appraise the data available on the effect of these processes on the use of other psychoactive drugs, traffic accidents, intoxications and levels of criminality. We conclude by questioning how these American experiments could affect the legal status and the dominant policies in Europe concerning the most widely-demanded of illegal drugs

Marijuana is a substance with a long and controversial history. At different times in its history, which goes back over 5,000 years, this plant has been used for different purposes, ranging from recreational and leisure to its use in the treatment of several diseases or to offer relief in processes that entail a certain type of malaise, and including its consideration as a means of relaxation and meditation. Although it was supposed that the roots of marijuana lay in Central America, it is now known that this is but an urban legend with little credibility and that its origins can be found recorded in Chinese medical references dating back to the year 2737 BC. Although this plant was not originally from Central America, it has aroused interest around the world, and above all in Mexico. It is in this country where the use of cannabis has gone from applications in textiles and medicine to its free sale, the bans on its use due to political and social pressures, its tolerance and, recently, its decriminalisation for recreational and medicinal use. Unfortunately there are few references on the history of this plant in Mexico, and thus we have considered it interesting to present some data about the generalities of marijuana, a brief history in the world, the development of decriminalisation in North America, its medicinal uses and its course through Mexico to the present day

In Spain, one in four 14 to 18-year-old adolescents has used cannabis during the last twelve months. Demand for treatment has increased in European countries. These facts have prompted the development of preventive interventions that require screening tools in order to identify the vulnerable population and to properly asses the efficacy of such interventions. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), widely used to forecast behavioural intention, has also demonstrated a good predictive capacity in addictions. The aim of this study is to design and validate a Cannabis Use Intention Questionnaire (CUIQ) based on TPB. 1,011 teenagers answered a set of tests to assess attitude towards use, subjective norms, self-efficacy towards non-use, and intention to use cannabis. CUIQ had good psychometric properties. Structural Equation Modelling results confirm the predictive model on intention to use cannabis in the Spanish adolescent sample, classified as users and non-users, explaining 40% of variance of intention to consume. CUIQ is aimed at providing a better understanding of the psychological processes that lead to cannabis use and allowing the evaluation of programmes. This can be particularly useful for improving the design and implementation of selective prevention programmes (AU)

The concept of healthy schizotypy, characterized by positive schizotypy symptoms in the absence of negative or disorganized schizotypy, raises questions regarding whether the contrast between its healthy appearance and its relatively high level of impairment might be due to self-reported advantages. Using cluster analysis, we aimed at typifying a positive schizotypy group in a large nonclinical sample of young adults to examine its association with depressive symptoms, cannabis use, academic performance, well-being and serendipity, while controlling for variables inducing positive self-report biases: self-deceptive denial, wishful thinking, social desirability and narcissistic traits. We thus identified a pure positive schizotypy cluster (P) and a positive and disorganized cluster (PD) which had the highest level of the positive factor. Both clusters were characterized by a contrast between a high level of well-being, life satisfaction and self-reported serendipity (similar to a low schizotypy cluster) with elevated level of impairment markers (lower academic performance, higher depressive symptoms and cannabis use), comparable with clusters high in negative schizotypy. Moreover P and PD had elevated levels of variables susceptible to induce positive self-report biases (denial, wishful thinking, social desirability, narcissistic traits), while the clusters high in negative schizotypy had lower levels. We conclude that the relative high level of well-being and life satisfaction observed in groups with elevated positive and low negative schizotypy may in fact be linked to positive self-report biases (AU)

Objective: To determine differences between men and women in hazardous drinking, heavy cannabis use and hypnosedative use according to educational level and employment status in the economically active population in Spain. Method: Cross-sectional study with data from 2013 Spanish Household Survey on Alcohol and Drugs on individuals aged 25-64 [n=14,113 (women=6,171; men=7,942)]. Dependent variables were hazardous drinking, heavy cannabis use and hypnosedative consumption; the main independent variables were educational level and employment situation. Associations between dependent and independent variables were calculated with Poisson regression models with robust variance. All analyses were stratified by sex. Results: Hazardous drinking and heavy cannabis use were higher in men, while women consumed more hypnosedatives. The lower the educational level, the greater the gender differences in the prevalence of this substances owing to different consumption patterns in men and women. While men with a lower educational level were higher hazardous drinkers [RII=2.57 (95%CI: 1.75-3.78)] and heavy cannabis users [RII=3.03 (95%CI: 1.88-4.89)] compared to higher educational level, in women the prevalence was the same. Women with a lower education level and men with a higher education level had higher hypnosedative consumption. Unemployment was associated with increased heavy cannabis use and hypnosedative use in both women and men and with lower hazardous drinking only in women. Conclusions: There are differences between men and women in the use of psychoactive substances that can be explained by the unequal distribution of substance use in them according to educational level. Unemployment was associated with substance use in both men and women (AU)